


Let the Fireplace Roar

by Hypnobyl



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-21 13:09:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17044331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hypnobyl/pseuds/Hypnobyl
Summary: While driving through the mountains, Cat and Kara end up stranded in the middle of nowhere during a blizzard.





	Let the Fireplace Roar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheLianKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLianKing/gifts).



Kara sat in the car and checked her phone idly as the first few snowflakes drifted from the sky, swirled about in the frigid breeze, and landed on the windshield of the year’s most luxurious four wheel drive sport utility vehicle--painted a startlingly bright red. Kara recalled Cat’s demand for “the red from Supergirl’s suit” and smiled fondly at the memory. The dealership had scrambled to find a hue that would satisfy Cat’s harsh expectations, and the result was something nearly blinding.

The weather application on her phone hadn’t updated in a good hour or two, not since they’d started up the winding mountain road to Cat’s seldom-used cabin in the woods. The multi-state jaunt from National City to Metropolis had already taken a few days, but the side trip out here wasn’t without reason. A caretaker had reported a problem with the heating system, which could lead to larger problems with the pipes as the freezing nights grew more severe. 

The cabin was on the way, for the most part, so Kara had resigned herself to the pit-stop. Resigned was not the proper word, but she did her best to seem a little miffed about the delay. She was driving Cat to pick Carter up from his grandmother’s on Christmas day because she’d already been on her way to see Clark for the holidays anyway. Cat had made her request--and there really was no other option than to acquiesce. Kara was horrible at denying Cat anything, which made her a great assistant but a total pushover.

Add that to the monumental crush she nursed on her boss, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to say no.

Sighing, she tucked her phone away and stepped out of the car. She leaned against the roof and stared up at the gathering clouds overhead, assessing the possibility of snow. In no way a meteorologist, she couldn’t determine if they were friendly clouds or a threat. She hoped for friendly, but Earth weather was so much more finicky than that of Krypton. Krypton was simple: there was no liquid for precipitation, so would it be sunny, very sunny, or night time? Here, so many different things could fall out of the sky.

In the interest of not waiting to find out what the clouds held for them, Kara shut the car door and marched through the dry, crinkly leaves to the front of the cabin. She knocked a few times and, when she received no answer, stepped inside. Because the heater was malfunctioning, the interior was only slightly warmer than the exterior, and Kara was very glad the cold didn’t impact her very much at all. 

“Ms. Grant? We really should get driving again.”

There was a loud clang from an open stairwell leading down, so Kara moved quickly in that direction. She didn’t sense danger, but Cat could have hurt herself. As she flew down the stairs, she wasn’t prepared for the sight that awaited her: Cat with a wrench in one hand, a greasy mark on one cheek, and a spilled shelf at her side. Given that Cat had always paid others to do hard work for her, Kara was surprised that Cat knew which end of a wrench to use.

“Are you okay?” she asked, stopping on the bottom step and bracing her hand against the wall. Her eyes seemed glued to the grease mark.

Cat drew a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the mark away as best she could. “I’m fine. This furnace, however, is not. I don’t know what I’ve been paying Marcus--”

“Matthew.”

“--for all this time because he clearly hasn’t kept up on maintenance. This is a hazard, and it will be costly to fix.” She huffed and wiped at her cheek again. “This is why you have to keep a tight grip on your assets, Kiera.”

“Noted--”

“Remind me to fire him as soon as we return to National City.”

“I will. But Ms. Grant--”

“I told you. I’m on vacation for the next two days. Call me Cat.”

“Cat.” Kara gestured upstairs. “It’s starting to snow.”

“And?”

“And we should get going if we want to reach Metropolis by tomorrow afternoon.”

Cat grimaced and tossed the wrench aside. “Fine. I just need to lock up.”

“Okay.” Kara backed up a few steps. “I’ll be out at the car.”

Except, when she reached the front door, she needed her enhanced strength to even get the door open. In the few minutes she’d been downstairs, a blizzard had seemingly swept through, dumping a good five feet of snow in its wake. This was impossible, so Kara quickly pulled her phone out and called her sister.

“Is National City experiencing any kind of weird weather situation?”

Alex sounded frustrated, even as she kept the sting of her anger from her words to Kara. “Some idiot built a weather machine. Said he was going to fight global warming by creating some sort of eternal winter.”

“Where is he? I can--”

“He’s just a normal guy, Kara. We’ve already apprehended him. But he set the machine off right before we caught him.” Alex sighed. “Look, you’re with Cat, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then, just stick it out. Secret identity, right?”

“Right…”

“It’ll take a few days for Winn to understand and reverse the machine’s programming. Until then, stay somewhere safe and warm, and I’ll let you know when we’ve got this whole thing solved.”

Kara nodded and ran a hand through her hair. “Okay. I can do that. Just… keep me in the loop. Thanks, Alex.”

Cat came up the stairs a moment later and cocked her hip to one side. “What’s wrong?”

“Blizzard. It came on really suddenly. We’re stuck here for now.”

“Kiera, you should have been keeping a better eye on the weather.”

“The weather app didn’t tell me this was coming. I’ve been watching closely, Ms. Grant, I promise.”

Cat flipped a hand. “Fine.”

“The furnace is out, isn’t it? Do you have wood stocked for the fireplace?”

“That was part of Marcus’s job. The answer should be yes, but based on his incompetence--”

Sensing Cat’s flaring temper, Kara lifted a hand. “I’ll check. If you want, you could just set up in the living room. I’ll get some wood and some blankets. I’ll also check the kitchen for food and water. Is there anything else you need?”

“No.”

Kara took her time accomplishing her chores, if only to give Cat a few minutes to calm down and think rationally about the situation. Losing control over a situation was one of the few stressors that made Cat actually visibly anxious, and Kara knew better than to comment directly. Instead, she kept quiet and did her work without causing a fuss. When she rejoined the other blonde by the hearth, she found Cat much more at ease.

“I’ve called the local authorities, but nothing can be done about the roads until much later. This has been a relatively warm season, so most of the plows haven’t been active.” Cat patted the couch cushion beside where she sat. “We’re here for the night, at least.”

Kara settled the firewood into place and used a match to get the fire burning. When she couldn’t quite get the wood to catch, she shifted so Cat couldn’t see her face and used a small blast of heat vision to start the fire instead. The heat radiating out did an excellent job mitigating the chill in the air, but Kara knew the temperature would only drop further once the sun had fully set. She joined Cat on the couch and offered up the warmest blanket she had found.

“Well?”

Kara looked at her blankly. “Yes?”

“Are we going to sit here in silence the whole evening?”

“Um…”

Cat rolled her eyes. “Please, Kiera. I normally can’t get you to stop babbling.”

“I’m just anxious. We’re going to be late picking Carter up.”

“Regrettable. But unless you can get Supergirl out here, we’re stuck.”

Kara swallowed hard and averted her eyes. “Oh, yeah, haha. Definitely can’t do that.”

“Is it the snow?”

“What?”

“Does snow make you anxious.”

“Not really. I never saw any when I was a kid, but I’ve loved it from the first flake. I used to drag my sister outside in the middle of the night to make snow-women. We’d make them look silly so Eliza would laugh in the morning.”

“Your foster mother, correct?”

“Yeah. Did you play in the snow when you were younger?”

“No.”

Kara raised an eyebrow. “Just no?”

“I was sick for most of my childhood. My mother didn’t want me to catch yet another case of pneumonia, so I wasn’t allowed outside in the snow for anything but travel.”

“Oh. Well, do you ever play with Carter?”

“He was never interested. He likes hot chocolate more than the cold. And honestly, I was somewhat relieved.”

“Why?”

Cat stiffened a bit but answered. “What if he wanted me to teach him something? I have no experience.”

Kara glanced outside and made a quick decision. “Okay, go get your coat. We’re going outside for a few minutes, and then when we come in, the fire will be nice and roaring and warm.”

After a moment of silence, Cat stood and went to bundle up. Kara did as well, although her mind was much more focused on all the fun she wanted to show Cat how to have than putting her buttons through the correct holes. Cat batted her hands away from her jacket and fixed her mistakes. Even though Cat blustered about what a pain she was, Kara definitely spotted a fond smile.

Using a bit of strength, Kara pushed the door open wide enough for them both to exit the building. The snow was piled high, but it was crisp and firm--good for packing, she noted. She kicked the snow a few times to create a few haphazard stairs and then helped Cat atop the five feet of precipitation. Snowflakes still danced down from the clouds, but they were slow now. Cat’s nose already glowed faintly red, so Kara prioritized her plans.

“Okay, so first thing, we gotta build a snow person.”

“Lead the way,” Cat said, gesturing to the expanse of white. Kara sensed she wasn’t planning on getting her hands dirty, so to speak, and so scooped up and compacted a snowball, which she threw with as little power as possible. The snow burst across Cat’s chest, and Cat immediately retaliated with a poorly crafted ball of her own.

“Really push the snow together,” Kara called from a short distance away. “It’ll fly better if it’s not losing snow along the way.”

Cat’s brow furrowed as her concentration intensified. The next projectile flew hard and true, and Kara fell back for effect, clutching her heart and crying out for a medic. The melodramatics evoked a bark of laughter, and Kara sat back up with snow in her hair and all over her clothes. If she were human, this might have been a bit cold. Cat crunched across the yard and offered a hand to help her to her feet.

“I presume that was a snowball fight.”

“No. That was a snowball massacre, you monster.”

Cat’s lips curled up into a very tiny smile. “I’ll perfect my technique when you least expect it.”

“Hold off on that until we make our snow person.”

Kara guided her through the process of rolling the base and midsection, although she had a better grasp on this after creating snowballs. Their creation was small and lopsided, but Cat wasn’t finished when they shoved branch arms in nor an acorn for a nose. She hurried inside and returned with some of Carter’s old winter clothing.

“A snow Carter.”

“You should take a picture and send it to him.”

Cat tutted under her breath, likely upset that she hadn’t thought of that first herself. Kara took a picture as well, although hers was for private viewing only. She felt a little silly, but this was sort of her and Cat’s child. Plus, she never got to see this side of Cat, and she wanted evidence to remind herself of later when Cat was back to being a prickly workaholic.

“We should get back inside now,” she decided, noting the freezing snow on Cat’s eyelashes. “I’ll heat up some hot chocolate, so you just go warm up by the fire.”

Kara took her time in the kitchen and prepared the drink to what she assumed were Cat’s expectations. Cat was so particular about coffee, and she didn’t want to risk delivering something unacceptable. When she returned, she didn’t hesitate to slip under the blanket next to Cat after setting the mugs down. Cat shifted subtly but didn’t speak, and Kara realized the older woman had fallen asleep.

She took the moment to look at her boss, really look, and brush a few strands of moist hair from Cat’s temple. Unable to stop herself, she leaned down to give Cat’s forehead a kiss. Before she could make contact, Cat’s hand slipped behind her neck and pulled her into a much more intimate embrace. Her lips were warm from tasting the cocoa, and Cat’s were still chilled from outside. The dual temperatures sent a shiver down her spine.

“Thank you,” Cat whispered against her mouth.

The snow didn’t clear up until another day later, but Kara didn’t mind in the slightest.


End file.
